America’s Changing Bicycle Import Trade

When older Millennials were ceding the toy market to Generation Xers earlier in this century, nearly all imported bicycles came from China. In 2010, for example, China accounted for 87.2% of all bicycles entering the United States. By last year, China’s share had dipped to 66.1% (before sliding even further in the current year).

Although Mexico’s share of the bicycle import trade has increased to 8.0% in 2025 from 2.6% in 2010, the vast majority of the import trade is oceanborne.   

The chief ports of entry of seaborne imports of bicycles have also slightly shifted away from USWC ports. The share held by the two San Pedro Bay port in Southern California has declined to 45.3% in 2025 from 49.0% ten years earlier. And, while the portion of the trade shipped through the NWSA Ports of Tacoma and Seattle has remained steady, slipping to 11.6% last year from 11.8% in 2015, Oakland’s share dipped to 1.8% last year from 3.2% in 2015.